Jose-Massu-Espinel
Elements Of Islay Bn8
Blended Malt — Islay, Scotland
Reviewed
January 16, 2022 (edited September 10, 2022)
BN8 is part of a collection of whisky expressions from Islay called "Elements of Islay", which marketing makes resemblance to the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, but with famous single malt whisky initials, like "Lg" for Lagavulin, "Bw" for Bowmer and "Lp" for Laphroaig. This one ifbof course a Bunnahabhain 8yo, that has a gold color, bottled at 58.4%abv.
On the nose, it is the perfect mixture of chocolate with oranges. Chocolate powder. An incredibly fresh orange juice. Definitively an orange peel spice if such thing exists. Cocoa nibs. Some lemon zest and other fresh citric fruits. Milk powder (formula). Orange caramel. After a first sip, the orange peel note was amazing. Chocolate powder formula, like nesquik.
On the palate it starts spicy, with orange acidity. Orange peel. Thick orange syrup . After three sips, a vanilla ice cream note has appeared. A hint of salt has appeared.
Aftertaste has this super acid orange flavor. Ginger. it is not very long and definitively not complex. Chocolate and sawdust have appeared after three sips. Orange mixed with salt.
Overall, this felt a little simple for a cask strength Bunnahabhain. It has all the classic Bunna notes in there, oranges, salt and chocolate, in a very clean and powerful way, but it lacks some complexity. It still is a decent single malt, but the higher abv really did not enhance the notes, or gave me something different. I don't think it is expensive, and it also comes in a 50cl decanter, so it is safe to say that this was intended for soft sipping every now and then. My score for it is 84 over 100.
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